Numerous civilians have been killed in a “massacre” perpetrated according to witnesses by forces loyal to the ruling party in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where a military operation launched by the federal government is underway, Amnesty International said Thursday. .
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This is the first time that a large number of civilian deaths has been reported since the start, on November 4, of the conflict between the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the party in power in this dissident region in the north of the country.
“Amnesty International can now confirm that many people, probably hundreds, were stabbed or killed with an ax in the town of Mai-Kadra (May Cadera), in the southwestern part of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, on the night of November 9, ”Amnesty International said in a statement.
The organization specifies having “examined macabre photographs and videos showing bodies scattered around the city or transported on stretchers. “
“We were able to confirm the massacre of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day laborers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive,” said Deprose Muchena, director for East and Southern Africa.
The NGO said it was unable to identify those responsible itself but spoke to witnesses that forces loyal to the TPLF were behind the “mass murder.” ”
On Thursday, Mr. Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, said that the federal army had “liberated” the area of Western Tigray, one of the six administrative areas in the region, in addition to ” regional capital Mekele, located in the east.
Nearly 11,000 Ethiopians have crossed the border into Sudan to flee the fighting, according to the Sudanese refugee agency.
Mr. Abiy says he wants to re-establish “legitimate institutions” in Tigray, whose leaders have defied the federal government for several months, notably by organizing an election deemed “illegitimate” by Addis Ababa.
The prime minister launched this military operation after accusing TPLF forces of carrying out an attack on two Ethiopian army bases – which the party denies.